About Us

Established in 1989!

We have recently re-located to opposite the Museum in Docklands at West India Quay. We were previously located in Canary Wharf and had traded from there since the early 1990’s.

Frontispiece is one of East London’s most interesting shops, with a stock of thousands of antique maps and prints. Our outlet is a veritable cornucopia for both the serious collector and someone looking for that special gift. With items from as little as £9, a print from Frontispiece is within the reach of anyone.

We have a wide selection of maps and prints on display in store, together with a library containing over half a million items.

Frontispiece Ltd offers a bespoke framing service which is undertaken in our Docklands based workshop (we do not contract out our services.) We are founder members of the Docklands Business Club (a branch of the London Chamber of Commerce) and members of the Ephemera Society.

Frontispiece are also agents for artists Colin Ruffell and Martin Aynscomb-Harris. We have a dedicated workshop in the West India Dock conservation area where we manufacture picture frames in metal and wood. We particularly pride ourselves on providing a competitive framing service to individuals who visit us with their own art work or photographs.

Our corporate customers include:

Barclays Bank

Citibank

HSBC

Canary Wharf Group

The Mirror Group

The Telegraph

Reginald Beer, F.R.S.A, J.P – Director

Born in 1945, Reg was educated at Hay Currie School and studied history at Avery Hill College, University of London.

He began his working career in photo-journalism in 1960, in Fleet Street, where he photographed, among others, the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds and Duke Ellington. Later he qualified as a teacher and taught in Tower Hamlets where he also became a local councillor and Deputy Mayor of the Borough. A former Trustee of the Whitechapel Art Gallery, Reg is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Freeman of the City of London and a member of the Court of the Worshipful Company of Poulters. He has been a Justice of the Peace since 1986. In 2016, Reg was awarded the Docklands ‘Life-time achievement Award’ by The Wharf newspaper.